


A Place For You

by Lobotomite



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 00:45:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobotomite/pseuds/Lobotomite
Summary: Liv is sure she's put her foot in it, and her and Chas bond.





	A Place For You

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, Guro!

She's an idiot. Oh, _god_ , she's such a fucking idiot, why does she ruin everything, why does she always take good things and fuck them up. She doesn't even manage to just mess up once, no, of course not, she fucks up and then panics and makes it even worse.

Which is why she's curled up in her room ( _hers for now_ , she thinks bitterly) with tears of mortification running down her cheeks, trying to ignore the low murmur she can barely hear of Aaron and Chas deciding what to do with her.

She aches to know what they're saying, but at the same time she never wants to know; and regardless, she knows the gist. She knows the look that must be on Chas's face; that mixture of pity and discomfort, of her trying to respond politely to Liv stumbling over boundaries and making herself unwelcome. She's been on the receiving end of that look plenty of times before. She's still not sure if it's better or worse than the one that's outright derision.

She hopes they won't make her leave. She doesn't think they will, thinks that that would be an overreaction, but then, she's never been good at gauging these things. Hopefully Chas will just ask to be given some space, for Aaron to make it clear to her that she only bothers with her because she's Aaron's sister - she can live with that. She should have already known that. Shouldn't have even considered letting herself get so comfortable - so comfortable she called her _mum_ , _god_ , she's an idiot. She should have immediately laughed it off as a meaningless slip of the tongue - and it wouldn't have been a lie, it _was_ a dumb slip of the tongue. Obviously she doesn't think Chas is her mother. It's just that it wasn't entirely meaningless, either, so of course her stupid, useless brain froze, she found herself stammering awkwardly, and then fleeing as soon as Chas opened her mouth to say something.

She'd ended up bolting home, storming past a startled Aaron and throwing herself onto her bed, and Aaron hadn't even had the chance to come after her before she heard Chas come in and them start talking. And now here she is, face buried in her arms, as the voices fade, she hears soft footsteps, and then there's a gentle knock on the door.

"Liv? Can I come in, love?"

She wasn't expecting Chas to be the one to break the news, but she supposes she probably owes it to her to listen to what she has to say, so she chokes out a shaky "yeah" and then hides her face back in the crook of her elbow, unwilling to watch Chas come into her room.

She feels her bed dip as Chas settles next to her, and she knows she's already fucked up but she doesn't want Chas to think she doesn't care about making her uncomfortable, so she raises her head and blurts out an attempt at an apology.

"Chas, I'm sorry, it was just a stu-" Chas cuts her off, shaking her head and shushing her, a sad (pitying? She can't tell, can never tell, and she hates it) smile on her face.

"Oh, you silly girl," she says, and oh. She knows that voice. That's an Aaron voice. That's a soft, maternal voice, one that turns her sobs of fear and shame to sobs of relief. Chas presses a hand to Liv's shoulder, moving forward and wrapping an arm around her when Liv leans into it, letting Liv unfold herself and bury her wet face into Chas's shirt. "You have nothing to be sorry about! I know it was just a slip of the tongue, love. And you listen, alright? It would be an _honour_ to be your mum. You're brilliant and Sandra is so, so lucky to have you."

She rests her head on top of Liv's, hand smoothing reassuringly along her back, and Liv's sobs lessen quickly, leaving her slightly embarrassed by her complete overreaction but mainly weak with relief. Chas lets her cuddle close for a while, but eventually Liv pulls away, scrubbing a hand over her eyes and looking up sheepishly at Chas's encouraging smile.

"Feeling better?" She asks gently, and Liv nods, managing a small smile in response. "Listen, I know you love your mum and I would never try and change that. But hey, I could be your Emmerdale mum, eh? I could do with some help with that muppet downstairs." She smiles and nudges Liv with her elbow, and Liv beams back, eyes wet again as she nods.

She would like that.


End file.
